I got mine back around 1990, when gold was on the $300 an ounce range. I can’t imagine kids are buying them today at $5,000 an ounce.
(I’d sell mine in a heartbeat if it hadn’t gone missing at least 20 years ago.)
They were distinctly unpopular in my Vancouver, BC area high school in the 1970s; I think they are more of a US thing. More to the point, none of my several nieces and nephews, who graduated 5-10 years ago from Canadian high schools, have rings or ever talked about them with us.
I don’t remember either of our kids, born in 1998 and 2000, wanting one. I think they may have done what I did and taken the money one would have cost.
At my school, one of our traditions is a ceremony for the juniors near the beginning of the year, to officially recognize them as upperclasswomen. The heart of the ceremony is each of them being presented with a ring (that they had previously provided to the presenter), and then everyone putting on their rings at once. Some buy the official class rings from Josten’s, but some use some other ring, for sentimental value, cost, or other reasons (sometimes, a student will even make her own ring).
I don’t think the cost of gold is a big part of the price of one of these rings. I imagine that they’re mostly made from other metals.
our kids graduated between 2006 and 2015. I don’t recall any of them even being offered a chance to buy a class ring. Certainly none did. Nor did any of their friends.
We were offered when I went to High School (class of ‘79) but I don’t recall anyone buying one.
I agree. Looking at the website for one class ring manufacturer, gold is available as an option but there are many others not using any precious metals.
Mine was 10 karat gold. Cost $300-$400 around 1990.
Are you implying that Lustrum(R) isn’t precious?
Where is that on the periodic table?
Right below Unobtainium.
Googling shows that a large men’s Josten’s 10k gold ring contains around 8 grams of gold, or around $1,200 at current prices.
When were they popular? Serious question. I was high school class of ‘78 (roughly the same vintage as @Procrustus above) and I don’t remember anybody who bought one. I don’t recall anybody in college having one either.
It’s possible i’m just not very observant.
My kids (‘05 and ‘07) didn’t get them either, and I don’t think there was any talk about getting them either.
I graduated in 1989 and they certainly had them for sale, I didn’t want one. I just asked my daughter who is in grade 12 and she tells me they are not offered at her high school.
I suspect that they were more popular when most people didn’t advance their educations past high school; by the '70s, that percentage was probably on the decline.
I was class of '83, and we had a Jostens sales rep come to our school when I was a sophomore or junior, selling class rings. I was initially interested in getting a ring, but my dad (with some wisdom) said, “you’re planning to go to college, and if you get a class ring there, you’ll never wear your high school ring again.”
On the other hand, do people bother to wear college class rings?
I did, until I lost it about 20 years ago. I actually looked into replacing it, but the cost – even without using a precious metal – had become stupidly expensive.
If I still had the original ring, I’d probably still be wearing it. But, I’m also old. 
We had them in high school, mostly because our high school made a big deal out of it (private school). But most of us got our rings made out of “Ultrium” or whatever the shiny pot metal was, with a glass stone. ISTR that back in 1991, it was like $79 or something like that. So not cheap, but not terribly expensive either. I think I wore mine for the last few weeks of high school, and then right up to the first week of college, when I retired it permanently.
I don’t think they were such a big deal at the local public schools, and I don’t recall my niece or nephew (21 and 23 now) having them a few years ago either.
I know a few people from my high-school class ('72) got them. My kids never mentioned them, so I’ve no idea if they were even available.
If it’s 8 grams of 10K gold, that would be equivalent to 3.33 grams of 24K gold, which at this moment’s price of $162.51 would equal $541.65.
If it’s the equivalent of 8 grams of 24K gold ($1300) that would be 19.2 grams of 10K gold, which (with the other materials) would make a pretty heavy ring.
So I suspect the former.
Class of '79 here. As I recall, representatives from the ring company were at school for a few days, taking orders. In the cafeteria at lunch, and outside the office after school. I don’t know how much business they got. I knew nobody who got one.